D. Bethel Draws Long John #09

After a few weeks where things got busy (and drawing got sparse because of it), I’m back at the table getting pages done. I’m actually well ahead of the page in the video and have been since I started uploading these for this chapter, so progress progresses, so to speak. For the few pages following this, however, there will be no videos as that felt too filled with spoilers to be comfortable showing them out of context. So, I’ll be trying to go back to some Sketch Friday drawings to make up for that.

I’m sure I’ve talked about this, but making videos of drawings mostly feels like a guessing game in terms of what people want. I’ve seen artists I like a lot put out drawing videos but the structure and format varies wildly aside from it’s a video showing someone draw.

I made a few videos with my previous comic where I would try to talk through the whole thing, speeding the process up between bits of interesting conversation (often leading to humorous moments). Recently, I have live-streamed some inking and tried to engage in conversation with live viewers. While very emboldening if a lot of people show up, it can be distracting and, I think, slows the process down which I really don’t need because I’m slow enough as it is.

My current format is sped-up inking with copyright-free music I made over the top. I’ve heard from some people that instead of the music they’d like to hear me talk about the drawing. Others said they’d like a real-time video with me drawing and talking or just silence. Most people have been really positive about the videos I’ve been putting out, but––maybe it’s the teacher side of me––I feel like they could be more useful for people who like drawing, are learning to draw, or like the comic itself.

What would you like to see in these videos? Please let me know in the comments of this post, commenting on the YouTube video, or e-mail longjohncomic@gmail.com with your two cents.